lysyltRNALys

lysyltRNALys is a transfer RNA gene that encodes the lysine transfer RNA, commonly referred to as tRNA-Lys. As part of the translation system, tRNA-Lys carries lysine to the ribosome and pairs with lysine codons in messenger RNA, primarily AAA and AAG, contributing the amino acid sequence of proteins. The aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase responsible for attaching lysine to tRNA-Lys is lysyl-tRNA synthetase, which produces lysyl-tRNA-Lys for use in protein synthesis. Many organisms possess one or more tRNA-Lys genes, often with multiple isoacceptors that recognize different lysine codons and may differ in sequence and genomic location.

The mature tRNA-Lys is a small RNA, typically around 70-90 nucleotides, and adopts the conserved cloverleaf secondary structure with an acceptor stem, D loop, anticodon loop, and TΨC loop. The anticodon loop enables codon recognition, while post-transcriptional base modifications in tRNA-Lys help stabilize structure and fine-tune decoding accuracy and wobble interactions.

Genomic context: tRNA-Lys genes are widely distributed across bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. They are usually transcribed by RNA polymerase and processed to mature tRNAs. In genome annotations, the gene may be listed with a label such as lysyltRNALys, tRNA-Lys, or similar identifiers.

See also: tRNA, genetic code, translation, lysine.